The recent publication of the (Nolan) committee on standards in public life’s report on artificial intelligence in the public sector should, as its chairman, Lord Evans, argued last week, be a gamechanger. The real challenge is still to come. The committee’s recommendations must become a workable reality.
This requires political will, strategic prioritisation, coherent oversight and human and economic resources. The political and social risks of leaving the recommendations as ‘on paper’ principles, are incalculable for individuals, and for public trust in the state. The potential for policy fiasco is on the scale of Windrush and Rotherham and beyond.
Everyone from local social services, judges, police authorities, border guards and homelessness charities is coming into contact with AI technologies (AITs) to assist decision-making. There is